The proof that Gadara was, to all intents and purposes, a Gentile, and
not a Jewish, city is complete. The date and the occasion of its
foundation are unknown; but it certainly existed in the third century
B.C. Antiochus the Great annexed it to his dominions in B.C. 198.
After this, during the brief revival of Jewish autonomy, Alexander
Jannaeus took it; and for the first time, so far as the records go, it
fell under Jewish rule.[102] From this it was rescued by Pompey (B.C.
63), who rebuilt the city and incorporated it with the province of
Syria. In gratitude to the Romans for the dissolution of a hated
union, the Gadarenes adopted the Pompeian era of their coinage. Gadara
was a commercial centre of some importance, and therefore, it may be
assumed, Jews settled in it, as they settled in almost all
considerable Gentile cities. But a wholly mistaken estimate of the
magnitude of the Jewish colony has been based upon the notion that
Gabinius, proconsul of Syria in 57-55 B.C., seated one of the five
sanhedrins in Gadara. Schuerer has pointed out that what he really did
was to lodge one of them in Gadara, far away on the other side of the
Jordan. This is one of the many errors which have arisen out of the
confusion of the names Ga_d_ara, Ga_z_ara, and Ga_b_ara.
Augustus made a present of Gadara to Herod the Great, as an appanage
personal to himself; and, upon Herod's death, recognising it to be a
"Grecian city" like Hippos and Gaza,[103] he transferred it back to
its former place in the province of Syria.
Pages:
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393
394
395
396
397
398
399
400
401
402
403
404